Snuhi (euphorbia neriifolia linn) in brihatryi: a review
International Journal of Development Research
Snuhi (euphorbia neriifolia linn) in brihatryi: a review
Received 05th January, 2017; Received in revised form 29th February, 2017; Accepted 24th March, 2017; Published online 30th April, 2017
Copyright©2017, Neelam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Snuhi (E. neriifolia Linn.) is an herb extensively used in the Indian system of medicine, is a small deciduous tree of the family Euphorbiaceae. As traditional medicine, the plant is useful in abdominal troubles, bronchitis, tumors, leucoderma, piles, inflammation, enlargement of spleen, anaemia, ulcers, fever and in chronic respiratory troubles. The milky latex is used to remove warts, as a purgative, expectorant and rubefacient, aphrodisiac and in earache. Snuhi is one of the constituents of Kshaarasootra, which is used in Indian medicine to heal anal-fistula. Phytochemical studies leads to the isolation of triterpenes like nerifolione, cycloartenol, euphol, euphorbol, nerifoliene, taraxerol, b-amyrin, glut-5(10)-en-1-one and glut-5-en-3b-ol from latex, bark, root, whole plant and leaf. The present article is a review of the classical references of Snuhi in Brihatrayi i:e Charaksamhita, Susrutasamhita and Ashtangahridaya. In this, mostly the Snuhi ksheer is used for curing of many diseases. In Charaksamhita, Snuhi is not found in Panchashatmahakasaya. Firstly Snuhi is mentioned for virecana (C.Su.1/112). In Susrutasamhita, the term Snuhi has been mentioned firstly for Kshara preparation in Sutrasthana (S.Su 38/30). In Ashtangahridaya, First reference as Snuk is seen for virecana in Sutrasthana (A.H.Su.15/2).
